A New Jersey priest planting Easter flowers outside his church was astonished to find a dead baby girl buried in the ground and wrapped in a piece of cloth beside his pansies, azaleas and rhododendrons.

Father Michael Ward discovered the child outside St. Cecilia’s Church in Kearny. Police said the infant was in a decomposed state and may have been buried some time ago.

The girl’s age was not known, but officials said an autopsy could provide additional information.

Authorities were trying to determine how the baby died, but cops do not believe foul play was involved. Authorities said Ward had called 911 as soon as he made the grisly discovery Tuesday at the church, at 120 Kearny Ave.

Hudson County prosecutors had no leads, but law-enforcement sources suggested that illegal immigrants with scant means may have discarded the baby in their panic.

The cause of death was undetermined, but sources said they believed the child – described as a white female, possibly Hispanic – had died of natural causes.

Sources said the parents may have waited for weeks before deciding to bury the child. Cops were checking local hospitals to see if there was any record of the child’s birth.

“We don’t know for sure whether the child was born in a hospital,” said Hudson County Prosecutor Edward De Fazio. “But we think whoever buried the child was a religious person trying to give it some sort of proper burial.”

“It appears that no harm was done,” De Fazio added. “If it wasn’t born in a hospital, it will be harder to find out what happened.”

De Fazio said the child’s parents may have been trying to do the right thing. “Those who did this did not do it intentionally to harm the baby,” he said. “They were scared. They just didn’t know what to do.”

The infant was wearing an oversize jumpsuit and a white T-shirt and was wrapped in a white cloth, officials said.